This Summer
by readerwriterthinker
Summary: Her summer was supposed to be singing and dancing. His was supposed to be... well not this. They were not supposed to be working at the same café and the sure as hell weren't supposed to become this close. T: language
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: I'm not Ryan Murphy, unfortunately. Nor am I any of the other amazing writers, producers, and/or directors of the awesome show we call **_**Glee**_**. So I must resort to writing fan fiction. Hope you like this. I know some of you are disappointed my other story, ****The Taming of a Puckasarous**** isn't a 'Puckelberry' story, but because you were all so enthusiastic about my writing, I've decided to write a Puckelberry story just for all of you. Please continue to follow my other story too though. It would mean the world to me. Thanks!**

Rachel's P.O.V.

The summer before my senior year was filled with one thing only, college applications. Okay so maybe there were some voice lessons, acting lessons, and dance classes but other than that college applications only. Or at least that's how it was supposed to be, unfortunately, summers never turn out how their supposed to be.

This was the first day of summer vacation, my Julliard application was being sent out today. I woke up and did my usual morning routine, flax seed and banana shake then my elliptical workout. After my workout, and a nice relaxing shower, I made my way downstairs Julliard application in hand. It was neatly addressed in a pristine white sealed envelope. I put a gold star sticker in the lower right hand corner for good measure, subliminal messaging is not cheating.

As I made my way downstairs toward the front door I heard my Daddies talking.

"She's going to be fine Hiram. It's one summer job. It won't interfere with any of her arts classes, I've checked with Margret about that. This way she'll have some of her own money to spend on all those extra things she wants. Do you realize it just cost us $100 for her to _apply _to Julliard? Not to mention the other three backup schools she's applying to," I heard Papa sigh. "Hiram, how are we going to let our baby girl live alone in that big city if she doesn't know how to manage money or work for it?"

"Leroy, I just- she's not – our baby is growing up to fast." I heard Daddy say.

"I know Hiram, but this is what's best for her," Papa said.

I walked into the kitchen to see what exactly they were talking about. "Good morning Papa, Daddy" I said kissing their cheeks respectively.

"Buttercup, can you sit down for a second?" Daddy asked pulling out a seat next to him at the island in the kitchen. I looked at them expectantly. "Sweetheart, you know we want the best for you right?" I nodded. "Which means we want you to be fully prepared for college life, when you go off to New York City."

"Daddy, I haven't even sent in my application to Julliard yet. I mean obviously I'm going to get in but we should at least wait and see before we start making plans and buying things," I reminded him holding up my application.

"Well yes, but regardless of where you go you're going to need to know how to make money." Papa said. "Which is why you need a job this summer Rachel."

"Oh, okay. I'll look later today. Maybe the dance studio has a camp I can help out at," I said trying to get up and walk out to the mailbox with my application. Papa stopped me by placing both of his hands on my shoulders.

"Rachel, sweetheart, we're not asking you to look for a job," Daddy said. "We're telling you that we've found you one; for the summer at least."

"Oh," I said not quite sure how to respond to that. They found me a job? They didn't even let me find my own job? "Well, how does you finding a job for me help me? I mean I'm grateful you did, but you won't be there in New York to get me one so wouldn't it be more beneficial for me to find one myself?" I reasoned. That logic sounded pretty reasonable.

"Rachel, you know Mrs. Ushkowitz from Temple right? Well I was talking to her the other day and she was saying how the coffee shop she owns in Lafayette and she's going to need some help this summer seeing as she only has one other worker." Papa explained completely ignoring my comment. "I told her that you were available this summer, and she was more than thrilled to give you the job. She's seen how diligently you work and was very excited when I offered her your services. She's willing to pay you $8 an hour and you'll be working 4 days a week since your dance, acting, and singing classes are on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday."

"Oh, well that sounds lovely" I began as I looked for a loop hole. "Not to put a damper on this idea, but Lafayette is 9 miles away. How am I supposed to get to work every day?"

"Another learning experience Buttercup," Daddy said. "You'll have to take public transportation, something you'll be doing quite a bit of in New York City." He finished with a kiss on my forehead. Then the two of them went back to getting around for today.

"Oh, you start today Sweetheart. The taxi will be here to pick you up in about 30 minutes. They know where to go and they've already been paid. Have a good day!" Papa said as he kissed my cheek and walked out the door. Daddy squeezed my shoulder and followed Papa out the door. I stared after them. They just expected me to go work at this place and that was all the information they were going to give me? Didn't I have any say in this? I thought this was supposed to be _my _summer.

**~RWT~**

**Puck's P.O.V.**

I swear I was going to find the person who created coffee and bang them. Not only did the liquid gold wake me up every morning but it kept me employed, and just ask my ma, neither of those things are easy. I woke up unnaturally early because I was supposed to train some new employee or something so I had to get to work early to get my shit together. Damn, Mrs. Ushkowitz and her amazing coffee. I'd probably bang her too, he's got a nice cougar thing going on, but her husband is like 8 feet tall and hell his guns are like three times the size of mine. He's a big dude.

"Noah, what are you doing?" asked a small voice from behind me. I turned around to see my sister, Ariella.

"I have work today Ari. Why are you up so early?" I asked as I grabbed a bowl from the cupboard for her breakfast. Yeah, I know Puck's good with his little sister who'd have guessed? Yeah well shit like impregnating the Celibacy Queen then being forced to give your baby girl away makes you grow up.

"I never unset my alarm for school so it went off this morning," she shrugged putting the bowl on the table and taking a box of Frosted Cheerios out of the pantry.

"You get up this early for school? Ya crazy" I said ruffling her hair. She slapped my hand and continued pouring her cereal into her bowl. We sat in silence eating our breakfast; her, cereal and a glass of OJ and me, blueberry pop tarts and my coffee.

"Why are _you_ up so early?" Ari asked taking a sip of her juice.

"I have work in like, an hour. I need to leave soon" I said, putting my dishes in the dishwasher. "You cool with going to Jamie's house today?" I asked her. Ari smiled and nodded running upstairs to get dressed. Jamie was Ariella's best friend or some shit and Jamie's parents were pretty cool with Ari staying there when my mom and I both worked.

Ariella came down 4 minutes later with her backpack slung over her shoulder. I rolled my eyes and we both walked out to my truck. I helped her up into the passenger seat and walked around to the driver's side.

"Noah," Ari said quietly as we drove. "Jamie said that only hoodlums get sent to Juvie. Does that mean you're a hoodlum?" I looked at her like she had lost her damn mind because, well she had. Juvie was the beginning of last year she waits until summer to ask me about it?

"What are you talking about Ari? Do you even know what a hoodlum is? I just made dumb mistake and got in trouble. Like when Ma catches me drinking milk out of the carton," I explained.

"They don't send people to Juvie for drinking out of the milk carton dumbass" Ari said scrunching up her face.

I stifled a laugh, "Ma's gonna be pissed that you're talking like me." She shrugged and turned to look out the window. I figured the previous conversation about Juvie was over.

The rest of the ride was relatively quiet. I made a comment asking how many Barbies she could fit into her tiny backpack and she punched me in the leg, fricking' hurt too. I'm gonna make a badass out of her yet. Then she made a comment about how I'm a loser because I'm working two jobs over the summer, The Coffee Shop and my pool cleaning business. I told her to f off and that I wasn't gonna bring her to the movies anymore and she punched me again, badass little 9-year-old.

After I dropped Ariella off at Jaime's house I drove towards work. I would totally deny this and crack anyone's skull who dared bring this up, but I was actually looking forward to work today. I mean, Mrs. Ushkowitz was actually letting me train the new employee. Which meant she trusted me or some shit, which is like really frickin' cool because the only people that actually trust me are like Ma (sometimes) and my Nana Connie. But the fact that Mrs. Ushkowitz, or Maggie as I usually call her, trusts me enough to let me train someone, shit that was a big deal. I was also excited because the new employee that I was training, according to Maggie was a 'very pretty Jewish young lady around my age'. I figures that was great, I could kill two birds with one stone; get Ma off my back on the whole _dating a Jewish girl_ thing, and get me off period.

I pulled into my parking spot in the back of the café. No really, it was _my_ parking spot. My truck was too big to fit anywhere else. I had asked Maggie if I could put my name on it at one point. But she just gave me that look that Ma gives me when I ask something stupid and asked me who else was going to park back there. I guess she was right; no one really likes parking next to the dumpster.

I walked into the small café through the back door to find Mrs. Ushkowitz setting up for opening.

"Oh, good morning Noah" she said when she saw me. I smiled and nodded in response as I put on my gay-ass kaki apron and the nametag that had originally read 'Noah' in this pansy writing until I covered it up with a strip of duct tape and wrote **PUCK**. "Would you mind unlocking the front door for when the trainee gets here?" She pulled the keys from her own apron and tossing them to me.

"Sure thing Maggie," I smirked catching the keys in my left hand; badass reflexes right here!

I walked over to the door and unlocked it. As I looked through the glass of the door I saw a taxi pull up and a leggy brunette climb out of the back. I silently cheered; hot and Jewish? Best new employee ever! But when she turned around that thought quickly disappeared because there in front of me stood none other than _Rachel Berry._

**Author's Note: Okay so I really hope you all appreciated that. I'll try and get some more up when I can. Please, please, please review because they make me update faster. Love you all!**

**~ReaderWriterThinker**


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer: I'm not Ryan Murphy, unfortunately. Nor am I any of the other amazing writers, producers, and/or directors of the awesome show we call **_**Glee**_**. So I must resort to writing fan fiction. **

**Puck's P.O.V.**

The hell? Wasn't she supposed to be singing and dancing or some shit? Isn't that what she was saying during the last glee practice? 'Very pretty Jewish girl,' my ass. Okay well Mrs. Ushkowitz was right about that. Berry was smokin' hot, you know, if she didn't talk so much. But that was the problem; she talked _all the damn time_, using words that Webster himself doesn't even know. I mean don't get me wrong, she's pretty cool and all, as far as chicks go, but she makes my ears hurt and I don't exactly want to spend my summer listening to her ramble about her Tony Hawk awards and Honey Girl, or whatever that damn musical is called.

"Noah!" Rachel said. She sounded excited and surprised, but the look on her face was worried and scared. "I-I wasn't aware that you were employed at this establishment."

"No one at school does, for a good reason too," I muttered she gave me a quick nod and brushed past me into the café.

"Hello Mrs. Ushkowitz. I just wanted to personally thank you for offering me this wonderful job opportunity. I am very grateful and am ready and willing to do whatever you would like me to do," She said smiling that 'Berry smile' of hers.

"Oh, call me Maggie, Dear. And really, was my pleasure; you're so organized and thorough I believe you will be a very good worker," Maggie said smiling. Rachel nodded and smiled. "Okay well this is Noah Puckerman. He-"

"We know each other from school," I said.

"Yes, Noah and I are in Glee Club together." Rachel nodded.

"Oh that's wonderful. Music in schools is so important these days," Maggie said. "Anyway, here's your apron and name tag you have to wear this every day, underneath it should be khaki pants or a skirt and a green polo shirt. I'll excuse it today since I forgot to mention that detail to your fathers, but tomorrow I expect appropriate dress." I rolled my eyes. Damn the green shirt and gay ass khaki, I swear that woman thinks she owns a flower shop instead of a coffee shop; green and khaki? "Okay, well Noah here is going to train you on front counter today and then tomorrow you two can work in the kitchen."

"Oh, um, Noah is training me?" Rachel asked taking a quick look at me and biting her lip.

"Yes, I can assure you he is a very skilled worker; he's been working here for almost a year now," Maggie said patting my shoulder. I made a face at her touch. I mean, don't get me wrong I liked that weird-ass bubbly so not badass feeling I got in my stomach when she talked about how she trusted me or believed in me or whatever, but don't pat my shoulder I'm not a 5-year-old, or a dog.

"Wow, that's very admirable Noah." Rachel smiled so I guess admir-whatever is a good thing. I just shrugged.

"Okay, well I'll let two get started and I'll finish up making those fresh scones before I run some quick errands. Good luck you two," Maggie said as she turned the open/close sign to 'open' and walked back into the kitchen.

Rachel turned toward me. "Well, where do we begin?" she asked.

I rolled my eyes at her enthusiasm. "Cash register," I grunted walking toward the counter. She bounced behind me. "Well, this is it." I said with little enthusiasm. "Not really sure what all I need to teach you about a cash register; shit's really simple and does the math for you. All you gotta do is punch in the price here, hit that orange button over there to add another thing to the order, then when they're done ordering just his this green one. When they give you the money and shit type it in where you types in the prices of everything and hit the green button again and the change they need shows up on the screen there. Oh and if they want to pay with a credit card or some whit just tell 'em to swipe it there and follow the directions," I explained. I turned to find her giving me the same look she gave me the day I showed up at her locker with a grape slushy in my hand. "What?" I asked her.

She shook her head and said, "That was the most crude and unsophisticated way anyone could possibly explain how to use that."

"Thank you," I smirked knowing what she said definitely wasn't a complement, but I'm the Puckster, and I liked messing with her.

"That was not a complement Noah. Honestly, it would do you a world of good to invest in a dictionary," she said. "So how do I know how much everything is?" she asked squinting at the chalk-board menu above the counter. I tapped on a sheet of paper beside the cash register. "Oh," she nodded looking at the paper.

The front door let out a small ring and I looked up to see a middle-aged man walking in. "First costumer, move" I pushed Rachel out of the way.

"It'd be more beneficial if I attempted to take this man's order," she replied bumping me with her hip out of the way. I rolled my eyes and smirked hoping to watch her crash and burn.

"Hello Sir, how can I help you this morning?" she smiled.

"Hello there, I'll take a large coffee and a blueberry muffin please," he said taking out his wallet. I watched in awe as Rachel just typed in the prices off the cheat sheet like she had been working here all her life.

"I don't think I've seen you before, you new here?" the man asked making light conversation.

"Yes, I just started today. That will be $4.25," Berry smiled. "Out of $5," she typed it in.

"Are you Jewish?" the man asked. That made both mine and Rachel's heads snap up. Why the hell did he care if Rachel was Jewish?

"Um, yes I am. Why do you ask?" Rachel said hesitantly handing the man his change as I set down his coffee and muffin.

"Just curious, I know the owner of this place is. You too?" he asked turning to me. I nodded pushing his order toward him.

"Have a good day Sir!" Rachel smiled brightly. He nodded curtly then left the shop. The two of us watched his car pull away before Rachel turned toward me. "Are all the customers here like that?"

"No, that was weird," I said still staring out the window. "Anyway, coffee pot." I directed her attention to the two large coffee makers on the counter behind her.

"Wonderful," she said excitedly clapping her hands together. I rolled my eyes; this was going to be a long day.

**~RWT~**

Okay, this was getting to be absolutely ridiculous! Noah kept explaining everything simpler then the last. I swear it was like he was _trying_ to get me to fail at something. Of course I was bound and determined not to let that happen.

"Rachel, it's a frickin' toaster on steroids, it's not that hard to figure out!" Noah said when I asked him to explain the toaster again.

"Well maybe if you actually explained it to me I would understand what I was doing; instead of just saying 'you put the bagel in the oven looking thing and turn the dial'," I huffed angrily.

He shrugged, smirk plastered on his face, "S'what'cha do."

"A little more depth would be nice! Thing? That's such a descriptive word Noah," I glared. We heard the bell ring indicating someone had just entered the shop. I attempt to make my way over to the cash register but Noah bumps me into the counter and gets there first.

"Hello Ma'am. How may I help you?" he asked. I'm pretty sure that's the politest I've ever heard him be. The lady ordered a small coffee and a, just my luck, a toasted sesame bagel with cream cheese. Noah threw me a challenging smirk as I tried to figure out how to toast the bagel. I turned the dial on the toaster to 3 and much to my delight it came out perfectly. I couldn't keep the smug expression off my face as I handed the lady her order.

"You're an excellent teacher Noah," I said sarcastically.

"Whatever Berry," he replied rolling his eyes.

Suddenly the kitchen doors swung open and Maggie came out. "Are you two just about ready to pack up for the night?" she asked.

"We're good to go Maggie," Noah said hopping over the front counter and walking over to the front door to change the open/close sign. I looked at my watch, shocked it was already 5 o'clock. The day had gone surprisingly quickly considering I spent all day with Noah and his lack of verbosity when it came to explaining things.

"Rachel, would you mind cleaning up the front counter while Noah takes care of the dining area?" Maggie asked resting a hand on my shoulder. I smiled and nodded. "Thank you. I'll be in the kitchen and then at the desk if you need anything," she said disappearing once again through the double doors of the kitchen.

I turned toward Noah. "Where do I find the supplies to clean up?" I asked him.

"Over there," he replied waving his hand as he put the sugar packets and napkin dispensers from the tables into a large gray bin.

"Noah honestly, must you be so nonchalant about everything? It's aggravating me to no end," I huffed as I spotted a mop, broom, and Lysol wipes by the door to the kitchen.

He turned to look at me, "Rachel, I have no clue what the hell you just said, but you're talking is pissing me off."

Was it really necessary to be that rude? I finished cleaning the rest of the counter in silence. I poked my head into the kitchen to tell Maggie that I was leaving and called for a taxi before walking out the back door. Noah was standing there leaning against his truck. He had a pair of aviators on so I couldn't exactly tell what he was looking at, which in all honesty made me somewhat nervous. I walk to the side of the building remembering that the taxi this morning had dropped me off in the front. I wait there for a few minutes before I hear someone approaching me from behind. I make a quick grab for my pepper spray and whip around to see Noah standing there arms crossed.

"The hell are you waiting for?" He asked. "And what's that for?" he asks noticing the pepper spray in my hand.

"I was preparing for the worst. This is a new setting for me Noah. I don't know who would try to approach me while I'm waiting for my taxi home," I explained to him safely stowing the spray back in my purse.

"What the hell do you think is gonna happen to you?" he asked lifting his sunglasses up and putting them on his head.

"Rape, murder, kidnappings; a number of things can happen to those who aren't prepared Noah." I said.

"Kidnapping? No one is going to kidnap your crazy ass and if they were you'd have like a billion people looking for you cause your dad's are part of that UCLA thing right?" he shrugged.

"ACLU, Noah, and was that actually a complement?" I asked.

"Hell No!" he said quickly.

"Oh," Just as I said that a bright yellow taxi pulled up. "Oh well I'll see you tomorrow Noah." I waved internally groaning that I actually had to come back tomorrow. I still didn't see why my dad's couldn't let me find my own job.

**Author's Note: YEY CHAPTER TWO! Very special thank you to , ellikanellika, tomfeltonlover1991, and Miss Puckleberry, for reviewing the last chapter. Now I know a TON of you subscribed so I should DEFFINITLY see some more reviews (plus they make me all happy!) Thanks a bunch!**

**~ReaderWriterThinker**


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